


To Grow Together

by Hekate1308



Series: Children of Purgatory [8]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 09:32:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8484232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hekate1308/pseuds/Hekate1308
Summary: Slowly, they became a family.





	

“I drove to the bunker“ she pointed out, “and Madison seemed to have no problem with it. And she has a license”.

“Nice try. We’re gonna do this right. So, to start the car we do what... ?”

She grimaced at Dad, even though she was secretly thrilled.

He’d decided that they would spend their Sunday driving around in the Impala. She’d never thought much about cars before, but she had to admit that this was a beautiful one.

Emma obligingly started the car, something in her chest feeling warm and fuzzy when Dad grinned proudly at her.

“Me and Sammy learned to drive in Baby. It’s Winchester tradition.”

“What about Cas?” she asked.

The angel stayed with them all the time, now, and she hadn’t missed that her father was more relaxed as long as he was around. He hadn’t mentioned Amara once since he’d last escaped her clutches.

Not that she thought he’d mention it if the bond between them was growing stronger.

They all kept watch on Dad now, her, Madison, Cas, Sam. And he did his best to ignore that.

“I have no idea” he admitted. “Never even thought about where he learned to drive...”

“So you’ve never allowed him to drive?” she inquired, surprised.

“No, I – “ he stopped.

“Might ask him if he’d like to one of those days” he mumbled. Emma suppressed a grin.

“You’re pretty good at this” Dad commented eying the road.

“Must be the genes. What’s – her mileage again?”

Apparently the car was a she, as Dean had told her.

“Please, I got rid of that ages ago when I rebuilt her after...” he paused.

“After Dad died” he finally finished the sentence.

She shot him a quick glance before asking, quietly, “He wouldn’t have liked me very much, would he?”

She hadn’t learned much about John Winchester. Even for a monster, there was only so much information you could take in within seventy-two hours before being sent off to kill your father. But what she had been told – just enough so she had been aware of the training the target had received – she couldn’t imagine that John would have welcomed and Amazon granddaughter.

To her surprise, Dean chuckled.

“Nah. He’d probably have wanted to gank you the moment he saw you.”

“Must like in the family too” she replied drily, but with a smile on her lips.

Dad laughed.

“Yeah, he’d definitely get a coronary.”

He reached out and patted her shoulder.

“Doesn’t matter. Things change.”

Yes, things had changed, and they still were changing.

A few days ago, when they hadn’t wanted to pay attention to themselves by formally interviewing a witness in a small town, Dean had just grabbed Emma, walked into the witness’ book shop and told her “My daughter needs a book for our vacation”.

He hadn’t even hesitated before saying it.

And the lady had not only told them everything, but smiled benignly on them, wishing them nice holidays.

“Well, that was easy” was all Dean had said later. And she hadn’t asked about it.

Dean turned on the radio. AC/DC blasted through the speakers.

“That alright with you?”

“Yes, I like classic rock”. As she had discovered about a week ago.

The proud grin of her father made her blush.

Madison caught her later that day, as she was just returning to her room.

“Has Dean made sure you treat the Impala with the respect it deserves?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with mischief. Emma snorted.

“You know he did. At least I get to drive her, though” she added smugly.

“Easy to say for the darling daughter” Madison remarked.

She looked away, unsure how to react. It was true. She and Dad had grown much closer in the last few weeks.

“Hey” Madison began gently, moving closer. “Is everything alright? It’s not – her – isn’t it?”

She shook her head.

“As far as I can tell, it is a good day.”

“There have been... fewer of those” Madison told her gently. So she’d noticed as well. Emma wasn’t surprised.

“He’s fighting though” her friend added, taking her hand. “Never forget that.”

They smiled at one another, having learned in Purgatory to communicate with looks if necessary.

It was at the end of a bad day that Emma found herself at the firing range.

Dad had barely paid attention to any of them since the moment he’d got up; instead he’d walked around the bunker, a dazed look on his face. They could only follow him around and hope he wouldn’t try to leave.

He didn’t. But by the time he noticed Cas walking next to him, the angel had already done so for close to three hours, fretting all the time although he tried not to let it show.

Castiel was remarkably easy to read once one got to know him better.

Dean had seemed to snap out of it right before he went to bed, but the other four occupants of the bunker had found themselves in front of his bedroom door just the same, having had the same idea.

Cas had won watch duty with the argument that he didn’t need to sleep, but even so, Emma found herself unable to.

So she’d ended up practicing with their supply of guns. She’d always been good when it came to knives – small wonder since she’d been born to – but her aim still left something to be desired.

“You should try and get some rest”.

She swirled around, gun in hand, only to point it upwards and move her finger away from the trigger when she realized she hadn’t heard Sam come in.

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright”. He smiled weakly. “That’s how Dean usually reacts, too.”

“Maybe we should install a knocker”.

“Maybe” he agreed.

Thinking about it, she was surprised to see him here instead of Madison. Emma and Sam hadn’t spent much time together alone since they’d returned.

“Madison said you were here”. Of course she’d known where she would go.

“She was worried. I told her I’d check on you.”

Emma refrained from wondering why Sam and Madison had late night talks together. If there was something to know, her friend would tell her.

How ironic, she thought; the last time he’d been desperate to find her it had been him pointing the weapon at her.

Sam apparently thought the same as she laid the gun down.

“I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable – “

“Don’t worry about it. You might have succeeded, but you’re pretty much one of the least scariest things to want me dead.”

She had never really blamed Sam for her death. At first, she had looked upon it as a personal failure; then, in time, she had accepted that it had been the only possible outcome; and he had only been trying to save his brother.

Sensing that she didn’t need or want to discuss the subject further, Sam glanced at her target.

“Not bad.”

She shrugged. “Could be better.”

To her annoyance, the bullets always ended up slightly right form where she’d intended, and during hunts, that failure could be critical.

“It will, in time.”

It will in time. So different from her rigorous three day training where every little setback had been pointed out for all to see, or from Purgatory where it would mean another short death.

“I can’t sleep” she decided to tell him quite abruptly. They all knew what was going on; what was the point in beating around the bush?

“It’s about Dad.”

Even now, she didn’t pronounce the word often; she couldn’t deny it felt more and more right as the days passed, however.

Sam nodded.

“We’re all worried. This hold Amara has on him is obviously growing stronger. If I’d known...” He sighed.

“You did what you thought was the right thing” she said carefully. Knowing how important free will was to both her father and her – and Sam, she still found it difficult to understand sometimes how easily they could ignore it if it meant saving the other.

Then again, with her new-found relationship with Dad, maybe she was beginning to understand.

Sam nodded again. He suddenly looked very tired.

“Cas is keeping an eye on him though”.

He was right. Dad would be okay.

Tonight, at least. Cas would make sure of it. No one would get him to stop his vigil.

“I should go to bed” she sighed. “Only if you do the same, though.”

If they didn’t get any rest, Dean would just worry about them, and he needed all the energy he could spare to fight off Amara’s siren call.

They moved silently down the hallway. Sam accompanied her to her room; as he turned around, she said softly, “Good night, Uncle.”

He paused for a moment before replying just as quietly, “Good Night, Emma.”

Dad was acting like himself the next day. He was aware of what he’d done the previous day and did their best to reassure them all he was doing well.

Cas looked much more cheerful than Emma had expected; but that was soon explained when Dad commented as he was making breakfast, “Also, I found Cas in the hallway in the middle of the night. Told him he could have the chair in my room if he insisted on keeping watch”.

She turned to throw Madison a glance, only to realize that Sam was doing the same, and they all did their best not to laugh out loud.

The telephones stayed blissfully silent, and there was, for once, nothing suspicious in the news. It was Cas who gave them the idea for a movie day; he remarked that the pronunciation of Enochian was in parts remarkably similar to Sindarin.

“Did you ever watch the movies?” Dean asked.

“I don’t need to. Metatron put the knowledge –“

“That’s not the same, Cas!” Dean turned around, eyes wide, as something else occurred to him.

“You haven’t seen them either”.

“No, Dad” she replied, to her own surprise, with the small, annoyed sigh of a teenager who is observing their parents’ bickering.

“No daughter of mine should have to live without that awesomeness. Alright, movie marathon”.

No one objected.

Emma contrived to sit next to her father, but on the end of the bigger couch, so he and Cas would sit together. She wasn’t blind; and if anyone could attract him more than Amara, it was good thing to her.

This of course left Sam and Madison on the smaller couch; not that they protested the seating arrangements. Emma caught her friend’s eye and raised an eyebrow; Madison managed to look as innocent as she could. She then proceeded to point out Dean and Cas with expressive looks; Emma would have shaken her head at her in mockery if the two hadn’t been sitting right next to her, already discussing the movies, apparently having forgotten that anyone else was in the room. Now she rolled her eyes at Sam and Madison, who to their credit kept straight faces.

Dean pressed play.

Some of the plot was doomed to be lost on them, as Cas kept insisting that “they should have used the eagles” while Dean desperately tried to explain that they couldn’t fly over Mordor. Cas then decided that “their wings must be afflicted” and just like that, the temperature in the room dropped and everybody stopped laughing. As the movie continued playing, she watched her father study Cas before casually putting a hand around his shoulder and pulling him close.

“It’s okay, man. We got you”.

Cas shot him a thankful smile.

Everybody ignored Dad’s arm staying around Cas for the duration  of the marathon.

And he’d been right, too; _Lord of the Rings_ was seriously awesome.

It was a good day. They cooked dinner, somewhat chaotically since everyone wanted to do something; and she didn’t miss Cas staying at Deans’s side at all times, their shoulders often touching.

Right before they went to bed, Dad pulled her in his arms.

“Night, Em.”

Yes, it was a good day.

The very next morning, Uncle Sam got a vision and everything quite literally went to Hell.  

 


End file.
